Amidst the celebrations of the birth of a British prince, it is worth thinking about what this may mean psychologically for a youngster who will turn 18 in 2031.

A look back at his forebears gives a hint of the psychological challenges he will face. His great-great-great-great grandfather Edward VII was a disappointment to his parents and lived a fairly dissolute life and only found a properly adult role when he became King at the age of 60.

George V had an easier time because he was only 44 when his father died in 1910, but he did not make things easy for his son Edward VIII, saying about him: “After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself in twelve months”.

True to prediction – or was it a self-fulfilling prophecy? – Edward had abdicated after only 10 months as King. The following year he met Adolf Hitler and subsequently had to be dispatched to the Bahamas as Governor during the war to keep him from causing further problems.

The psychological challenges faced by his poor brother, the reluctant monarch George VI, have been well portrayed in the film ‘The King’s Speech’.